Darwin Symphony champions new music in 2015

The Northern Territory’s principal orchestra will present six world premieres in next year’s season.

Perhaps the country’s most remote orchestra will be one of the biggest champions of new Australian music next year. The Darwin Symphony Orchestra have announced it’s 2015 season which features six world premieres by home-grown composers.

These include a new flute concerto by the highly sought after Elena Kats-Chernin, which will be premiered by flautist Sally Walker and a special collaboration between Ross Edwards, Iain Grandage, Kat McGuffie and Lachlan Skipworth who will each write a movement of a new orchestral suite to mark the 40th anniversary of the natural catastrophy Cyclone Tracy, which ripped through Darwin during Christmas 1974 killing 71 people. This new symphonic work will be accompanied by original choreography by Gary Lang, who is himself a survivor of the devastating natural disaster.

Elena Kats-Chernin

Darwin Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor Matthew Wood is thrilled to be presenting so many world premieres in 2015. “The orchestra has a long legacy and commitment toward supporting and performing Australian music,” says Wood. “This season we take that commitment to a completely new level.”

In addition to the swathe of new pieces, Darwin Symphony Orchestra will be presenting some more familiar orchestral favourites across four carefully curated, themed performances. The first concert of the year in March will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli.

The second performance in DSO’s Master Series, Realm and Resonance, takes its inspiration from the dramatic and brutal landscapes of the Northern Territory and will feature music by Sibelius, Ravel and Australia’s most cherished musical voice Peter Sculthorpe.

The third offering in 2015’s season, Night and Now will have a Russian flavour, with performances of Igor Stravinsky’s jazzy Ballet Suite No 1 and Borodin’s Symphony No 2 on the bill.

Full details of Darwin Symphony Orchestra’s 2015 season is available on their website.

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